Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News Malachi Smith and Kody Kirkland work on the wiring for the competition robot during an afternoon work session at Jenkins High School.

Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News Kody Kirkland fires a red Frisbee from the competition robot during an afternoon work session at Jenkins High School.

Heads up! Engineering students at Jenkins High School built a Frisbee-tossing robot and they’re working out the kinks before a big competition.

Friday, a group of students huddled around what looked like industrial shelving on wheels. Senior Kody Kirkland connected two wires, and they all stepped back as the contraption began to rattle and hum. Sophomore Nikhil Patel pressed a button on a computer joystick. The robot lurched forward and belched out a Frisbee that sailed above their heads and hit the wall on the other side of the room.

They had six weeks to raise funds, design and build a robot for the FIRST Robotics Competition in March. Student competitors create robots capable of carrying out complex tasks. This year robots earn points by shooting discs through goals of varying height at either end of a 54 foot long playing field. Bonus points are earned if robots can climb towers at mid-field.

Jenkins Team WIRE – Warriors in Robotics Education – paid the $6,500 competition fees with grants from Georgia Power, J.C. Penney and Mitsubishi Power Systems. And with aluminum donated by CST Industries, they worked after school and on weekends to build their robot in the school fabrication lab.

Senior Peter Rivera said the experience was a lot more pleasant than a calculus exam, but it still wasn’t easy. Designing a robot and making it work was tricky, even with 15 of the school’s brightest minds putting their heads together.

“We’ve built small stuff in class,” said senior Bilal Ali, “but nothing like this.”

Arlesia Wildman said they spent a lot of time taking measurements but with no directions to follow, it was tough trying to figure out what to do.

“You get your materials and they just say build your robot,” she said.

But they’re pleased with their results. The students hope what they learn in competition will enable them to add pneumatics and modify the robot for use as a Jenkins Engineering recruiting tool.